Delhi; 16 Oct 2022 (UMMN): According to the latest report, India has slipped to the 107th position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022 of 121 countries, from its 2021 position of 101st, falling behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In 2021, India ranked 101 out of 116 countries while in 2020 the country was placed at 94th position.
Seventeen countries, including China, Turkey, and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index that tracks hunger and malnutrition said on Saturday.
"India's child wasting rate, an indicator of mortality among children under five, at 19.3 per cent, is the highest of any country in the world and drives up the region's average owing to India's large population," it said.
The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe, termed the level of hunger in India "serious".
“the problem lies in policy implementation and the lack of political will" report said.
BJP lead Indian government had last year questioned the report -- calling it "devoid of ground reality"-- after India fell below the 100th rank. The government claimed the methodology used to calculate the Index is “unscientific” and based on Gallup pole.
Welt Hunger Hilfe (WHH) had then refuted New Delhi's claim that India's fall in ranking was based on an opinion poll.
In an email to NDTV, WHH had said that the Gallup opinion poll is not used by GHI, instead undernourishment is measured using data officially presented by India to the UN.
The GHI score is calculated on four indicators -- undernourishment; child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who are wasted i.e who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition); child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five).
Activists and politicians have hit out the government for India's ranking. Sitaram Yechury, Secretary-General of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the government must take responsibility for this era of darkness India has been brought to in 8.5 years.
"Dangerous, sharp slide of India on global hunger index since 2014. Modi govt is disastrous for India. Low food stocks barely over minimum buffer plus rising prices. Government must take responsibility ... Enough of PR, spin & lies," Yechury tweeted.
Congress MP P Chidambaram, citing the report, said our score has worsened since 2014 in the 8 years of the Narendra Modi-led government.
"When will the Hon'ble PM address real issues like malnutrition, hunger, and stunting and wasting among children?" Chidambaram asked on Twitter.
"19.3 per cent of children are wasted, 35.5 per cent of children are stunted Hindutva, imposing Hindi and spreading Hate are not the antidote to Hunger," the former union minister tweeted.
